Home-Bound: The Beginnings (HTTYD)

13 - The New Moon

Hiccup thought he improved his swordsmanship a lot in just the first day, and the others agreed. Just by switching hands, he was able to disarm Luneah, the best fighter on the entire island of Isunder. Granted, she was kinda distracted by the noise the swords made, but he beat her nonetheless. In that first evaluation, Hiccup felt a sense of accomplishment that he had never felt before. Being good at something felt amazing.

His sense of accomplishment disappeared, however, when Luneah went 'medium-low difficulty', and she beat him without a second thought. This caused Hiccup to work harder, and within a couple of days, he was able to beat this particular stage of training; disarming your opponent. Then, a few days later, he learned how to block an attack with his arms, use his sword to deflect a strike, and how to catch arrows between his hands.

This stage took a little longer, as being able to hold the tip of a flying arrow without getting cut requires extreme speed and agility. Luneah trained Hiccup, using arrows without the tips.

"Ow! This hurts!" Hiccup complained.

"Oh really? Imagine how much it hurt if the arrowhead was actually on the stick."

"I don't even want to know how you learned to do this."

"Practicing. Now shut up and do the work," she demanded, aiming her bow again.

Hiccup groaned, and got into a stance. Luneah shot the stick at his chest, and he snapped his hands together a second too early. The stick hit the back of his hand, and rolled to the ground.

"You know what? Let's just practice with swords." Luneah said.

"Okay! Great."

"I meant deflecting the arrow by using a sword."

"Oh. Is it hard?"

Luna snickered. "To deflect the arrow, you have to cut it in half."

Hiccup's eyes widened, and for a moment, Luneah thought he had frozen in place. He blinked once and shook his head.

"Never mind..."

"Why not?" The girl questioned, whining slightly.

"That sword is like a few millimeters thick!"

"And..."

"And if I can't catch it between my hands, how am I supposed to slice it perfectly down the middle with something as small at that?!"

"It's possible."

"No, it's not!"

"Fine, you shoot the arrow, and I'll deflect it," she said, as she picked up the sword and got back to her place.

Hiccup aimed the arrow at her chest, and shot it out. Without a second thought, Luneah brought her sword up, the sharp end facing Hiccup. The blade cut perfectly through the broken stick and it fell to the ground easily.

Luneah smiled. "I told you!"

"Th-that's not fair! You have voodoo magic of some sort, I swear!"

"No I don't!"

"Prove it then!"

Luneah frowned. "How in the hell am I supposed to do that?!"

"I dunno. You're the voodoo person, you show me!"

Hiccup plopped down on the grassy hill, staring intently at Luneah.

"Well?"

Luneah groaned, and picked up a stick. She took the bow and arrow from Hiccup, and got the quiver full of real arrows. She used the bow to shoot the stick in the air. She knocked another arrow into place, and looked to the floor, blindly shooting the arrow into the air. With a crack, the arrow was split in half, and the two halfs landed in two different palms of Luneah's hands. She jumped back, and the arrow landed exactly where she was standing a moment ago.